This invention relates to a computerized interactive language reference tool, and more particularly to a system for accessing the connotative meanings of words and phrases.
Language is an abstract, rule-governed system of arbitrary symbols that can be combined in countless ways to communicate information. All languages include a system of phonology (i.e., set of sounds), semantics (i.e., word, phrase and sentence meanings), morphology (i.e., rules for combining smallest meaningful units to form or alter words), syntax (i.e., ways in which words are organized into phrases and sentences) and pragmatics (i.e., rules governing a conversation and social use of language).
The use of language enables humankind to develop advanced cognitive abilities. Cognitive development relates to the changes in a person""s memory, thinking, use of language and other mental skills as they develop from infants to adults. Humans develop a certain degree of cognitive competence. In addition to such cognitive competence, humans also display and experience feelings, emotions and moods. In particular, our emotional state or the emotional state we desire to elicit can influence our choice of words. Every human language enables people to communicate both intellectually and emotionally because words and phrases convey both cognitive and affective meaning. xe2x80x98Affectivexe2x80x99 means to be influenced by or result from emotions.
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Semantics is the branch of linguistics that deals with the study of the relationship between words or phrases and their meanings. Of particular significance here are the contrasting linguistic terms, ID denotation and connotation. xe2x80x98Denotationxe2x80x99 is a particular meaning of a symbol. xe2x80x98Connotationxe2x80x99 is an idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or phrase. Thus, xe2x80x98denotexe2x80x99 describes the relation between a word or phrase and the thing it conventionally names, whereas xe2x80x98connotexe2x80x99 describes the relation between the word or phrase and the images or associations it evokes. As used herein a denotation is an objective, cognitive meaning which refers to the direct relationship between a term and the object, idea or action it designates. As used herein, a connotation is a subjective, affective meaning which refers to the emotive and associative aspect of a term.
The denotative meanings of words have been systematically codified into definitions and collected together to form dictionaries, thesauruses and related denotative language references. However, the codification of connotative meanings has not been achieved. Consider, for example, a dictionary which provides the following denotative meaning for the word xe2x80x98pubxe2x80x99: xe2x80x9ca building providing alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premisesxe2x80x9d (Oxford Dictionary). However, the word xe2x80x98pubxe2x80x99 simultaneously conveys a host of emotional connotations, such as merriment, pleasure, cheerfulness, perhaps some sadness, and so on. Similarly, words such as xe2x80x98summerxe2x80x99, xe2x80x98lovexe2x80x99, and xe2x80x98melodyxe2x80x99 have a variety of positive emotional connotative associations for most people, while words such as xe2x80x98cancerxe2x80x99, xe2x80x98rapexe2x80x99, and xe2x80x98homelessxe2x80x99 have negative emotional connotations for most people. In all cases, the associated connotations are not systematically accessible using any known language reference resource or tool.
The reason for the absence of codification of connotative meaning is that, while words readily evoke emotional connotations, the converse is not true: emotional connotations are not easily codified using words. Unlike denotative meaning, affective meaning does not naturally lend itself to systematic word-symbol description. Emotions are felt, not thought, so the relationship between a word and its associated connotative content, while real, is not codifiable using the relatively straightforward methods employed by lexicographers in fashioning denotative definitions. Accordingly, there is a need for a connotation language reference tool and a system for codifying the connotative content of such a tool.
Not only is it desirable to identify connotative meaning, it also is desirable to quantify the intensity associated with a connotation. Some words or phrases evoke stronger responses than others. Some words or phrases are more activity oriented. In the 1950s, Charles Osgood, an American psychologist developed a method of constructing bipolar scales based on semantic opposites, such as xe2x80x9cgood-badxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9csoft-hardxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cfast-slow,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cclean-dirty,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cvaluable-worthless,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cfair-unfair,xe2x80x9d and so on. Osgood called these scales xe2x80x9csemantic differentialxe2x80x9d scales because they differentiated attitudinal intensity based on a person""s subjective understanding of the connotative meanings of words. Osgood et al. explored large amounts of data provided by students who evaluated numerous words and phrases on numerous semantic differential scales. The outcome of Osgood""s investigations was a description of the existence of xe2x80x9csemantic space,xe2x80x9d three measurable underlying attitudinal dimensions that proved in subsequent research to be robustly identifiable across other languages and cultures. Osgood named these dimensions Evaluation, Power, and Activity (EPA). Experimentation by many investigators around the world confirmed the reality of semantic space and its cross-cultural validity (Japan, Scandinavia, Germany, Ireland etc.).
The semantic differential is a method for measuring the meaning of an object to an individual. It may also be thought of as a series of attitude scales. A subject is asked to rate a given concept (for example, xe2x80x98Irishxe2x80x99, xe2x80x98Republicanxe2x80x99, xe2x80x98wifexe2x80x99, xe2x80x98me as I amxe2x80x99) on a series of seven-point bipolar rating scales. Any conceptxe2x80x94whether it is a political issue, a person, an institution, a work of artxe2x80x94can be rated. Subgroups of the scales can be summed up to yield scores that are interpreted as indicating the individual""s position on three underlying dimensions of attitude toward the object being rated. These dimensions have been identified by using factor-analytic procedures in examining the responses of many individuals concerning many concepts or objects. It has been found that three subgroups measure the following three dimensions of attitude: (1) the individual""s evaluation of the object or concept being rated, corresponding to the favorable-unfavorable dimension in more traditional attitude scales; (2) the individual""s perception of the potency or power of the object or concept; and (3) the individual""s perception of the activity of the object or concept. (See Kidder, L. H., xe2x80x9cResearch Methods in Social Relations;xe2x80x9d 1981).
The problem with the semantic differential technique is that it does not distinguish beyond a single evaluative continuum, with positive attitude at one end of the scale through negative attitude at the other end. That is, it does not actually identify any individual emotions. Moreover, although several short xe2x80x9csemantic differential dictionariesxe2x80x9d have been developed (known in the literature as semantic xe2x80x9catlasesxe2x80x9d because they are analogous to xe2x80x9cmapsxe2x80x9d of semantic space), consisting of 500 to 1,500 words with EPA scores for each word, the technique of semantic differential is not associated with any system or method for codifying the words of any given language, even on a single affective variable. According there is a need for a system for codifying the connotative meaning of words.
According to the invention, a computerized interactive language reference tool is provided which associates one or more connotative meanings with a denotative context of a given word or phrase (i.e., referred to herein as a xe2x80x98termxe2x80x99).
According to one aspect of the invention, a data base is generated which stores the denotative context and connotative meanings of a plurality of terms. Connotative meaning, along with the intensity of such meaning, are identified using a statistical model of sampled responses from select panels of evaluators. In addition, areas of human interest also are associated with a given term and its denotative meaning. Further, scaled ratings of the power, activity and abstract/concrete qualities of the term also are maintained.
According to another aspect of the invention, the data base content is updated over time to accommodate changing and new connotations.
According to another aspect of the invention, connotative meanings for any given term are selected from a plurality of predefined categories. In one embodiment described below for the English language there are 8 categories. In the preferred embodiment there are four categories of positive emotions (e.g., affection/friendliness, enjoyment/elation, amusement/excitement and contentment/gratitude) and four categories of negative emotions (e.g., sadness/grief, anger/loathing, fear/uneasiness, and humiliation/shame). Within each category there are a predefined list of emotional descriptors. Thus, there are a plurality of categories of emotional descriptors. A term may have a connotative meaning in any or all of the emotional categories. Some terms may not have any connotative meaning. In some embodiments only one emotional descriptor is permitted to be assigned for a given emotional category for a given term. Thus, for an eight category embodiment, any term can have 0 to 8 emotional descriptors the emotional descriptors being from different emotional categories. In other embodiments a primary and a secondary emotional descriptor may be assigned for any given term. For such an embodiment, which is based on 8 emotional categories, any term can have 0-16 emotional descriptorsxe2x80x94the emotional descriptors being in pairs, with the two emotional descriptors in a given pair being for a given emotional category. Different pairs include emotional descriptors for different emotional categories.
According to another aspect of the invention, for each emotional descriptor associated with a given term, there is an intensity rating of how strongly or intensely the term tends to promote or relate to the emotional descriptor.
According to another aspect of the invention, a user interface for the connotative language reference operates in xe2x80x98look upxe2x80x99 mode and xe2x80x98look forxe2x80x99 mode. In xe2x80x98look upxe2x80x99 mode a user enters a term and the connotative meanings are displayed. In xe2x80x98look forxe2x80x99 mode a user selects filters to narrow down the data base to a list of terms meeting the filtration criteria.
According to another aspect of the invention, a user interface enables a user to view a selected term and its connotations. In one embodiment the emotional categories are grouped into positive emotions and negative emotions. The connotative language reference displays the emotional descriptors, if any, associated with the selected term relating to the positive emotions along with their associated intensity level. Similarly, the connotative language reference displays the emotional descriptors, if any, associated with the selected term relating to the negative emotions along with their associated intensity level. In addition, the power rating, activity rating and abstract vs concrete ratings are displayed along with their corresponding scales.
According to another aspect of the invention, there are a plurality of filters for identifying terms from the database to be displayed. There are general filters, such as denotative filters (number of syllables, parts of speech), special diction filters (e.g., slang, euphemistic, interrogative) and non-emotional connotation filters (power, activity, abstract/concrete). There also are human interest filters. There are several categories of human interest filters, such as personal identity filters (e.g., male, female, organization), spiritual identity filters (e.g., Hinduism, Christianity, Myth/legend), physical identity filters (e.g., body, health), perception filters (e.g., taste, place event) and hon-human life filters (e.g., animal, plant). In xe2x80x98look forxe2x80x99 mode a user enters selections for one or more filters (e.g, nouns, at least 2 syllables, euphemistic, have a power rating of 5 to 8, relating to myth or legend, and relating to health). The terms meeting the criteria of the filter selections are displayed, along with the associated denotative data. A user then can select one of the terms and switch to xe2x80x98look upxe2x80x99 mode to view the specific connotations associated with such term.
According to another aspect of the invention, the connotative language reference, including the data base, user interface and processing filters, are stored on a computer readable storage media.
According to one advantage of the invention a large amount of connotative and denotative information is accessible to an end user in a manageable format. According to another advantage of the invention, the data is updated over time for changing connotations. In particular, for a distributed computing model of implementation, such as a global computer network, the content may be updated continually or at varying intervals.
These and other aspects and advantages of the invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.